Online and mobile payment platform Alipay has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to “enhance Chinese tourists’ overall experience in Singapore”.
Under the MOU Alipay, operated by Ant Financial Services Group, and STB will cross-share relevant and current content about the city-state on both the mobile payment platforms and STB’s Tourism Information and Services Hub.
“This aims to increase exposure of Singapore’s offerings from various tourism businesses and provide Chinese tourists better information access before and during their trips to Singapore,” the two companies said in a joint statement.
Alipay and the STB will also share data and analytics on trends in Chinese travel to Singapore with tourism industry stakeholders in Singapore to help them better understand and target Chinese consumers with more relevant products and experiences.
Both parties will also “explore co-investment in joint-marketing initiatives to market destination Singapore and Alipay merchants with the objective of increasing visit spend via Alipay platforms”.
The partnership increases exposure of Singapore’s offerings to Chinese visitors (Image credit: lavendertime/iStock)
Alipay’s global head of marketing and operations, Tony Tai, said the partnership with STB would help the company present the best of Singapore to its users.
“Alipay is dedicated to bringing Chinese visitors and local merchants reliable, convenient and efficient ways of travelling and doing business. With our joint effort on content, data analytics and marketing, we will understand Chinese customers and local merchants better, making visits more enjoyable and businesses more efficient.”
STB’s chief technology officer Quek Choon Yang added: “This collaboration forms part of our overall strategy to better engage our visitors through digital channels. With a like-minded partner such as Alipay, we will be able to better understand our Chinese visitors’ needs.
“This will in turn increase overall visitor satisfaction, increase tourism receipts and drive repeat visits.”
Alipay, which processes payment by scanning a QR code, came to Singapore in 2015. Today, it is accepted by over 2,000 Singapore merchants including department stores under Metro and Robinsons, several hawker centres, over 80% of taxis, as well as tourist attractions like Universal Studios Singapore, Resorts World Singapore and Singapore Zoo.
China is a key inbound market for Singapore, contributing the largest share of tourism receipts and second largest share of visitor arrivals last year. The growth continues this year, with 1.9 million Chinese visitor arrivals from January to July, a year-on-year increase of 7%. Those travelling to Singapore as a single destination grew 15%.
• Featured image credit: AsianDream/iStock